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Saturday, December 20, 2014

R.I.P., PixieDusts (photo heavy)

*contains press sample(s)

The great nail polish casualty of 2014 was announced two days ago, from Zoya and via email, and in case you haven't heard, they're discontinuing their PixieDust line of textured polishes. Zoya.com is having a buy one, get one sale to clear out inventory, running through tomorrow, Dec. 21. Follow the link provided for the full listing of colors and the code to use during checkout.

Zoya PixieDusts

I can't decide if I'm surprised or not, lol. The various iterations of Pixies released this year received increasingly tepid responses. All most of us have wanted was a reversion back to the original formula (I would have been happy for more Magical Pixies in the formulas of the spring or summer collection) but it's almost as if Zoya forgot how to make Pixies. If you saw my Wishes collection review {HERE}, you know I didn't like the newest version at all; still, a complete discontinuation so close to the release of their most current collection feels a little... sudden. Anyhoo, in memoriam, I've decided to take a leetle stroll down PixieDust memory lane (and for those of you looking to take advantage of the sale, I hope having a few swatches all in one place helps).

I wasn't really on board with the Zoya textures until their third collection came out, but a dear friend in the middle of a destash just sent me two I've been super curious about from the first collection, Spring 2013. The texture is subtle, like sand, but definitely there. The polishes are matte with silver sparkle woven throughout-- easiest application ever, amazing weartime, and remarkably easy removal, too.

Godiva

Zoya Godiva

Vespa (I'm a little in love with this one)

Zoya Vespa

Fall 2013 was the third and final collection of original formula PixieDusts.

Arabella (THE prettiest in the original lineup, if you ask me)

Zoya Arabella

Dhara

Zoya Dhara

Sunshine

Zoya Sunshine

Carter

Zoya Carter

Chita

Zoya Chita

Tomoko (horrible on me. HORRIBLE. But GORGEOUS. If you can pull this one off, consider yourself lucky, lol.)

Zoya Tomoko

Zoya changed things up all over 2014, starting with the Magical Pixies in the spring. These three were basically original finish Pixies with an extra dose of silver shimmer, made chunkier with the addition of holographic hex glitters. I adored these as I know lots of us did, but others were not down with the chunkiness. These apply with the same ease as the original, but the glitter makes them a little more difficult to remove. Weartime decreases a little because of the thickness but these still last longer than most smooth finish polishes.

Cosmo

Zoya Cosmo

Lux (all-time favorite Pixie, right here)

Zoya Lux

Vega

Zoya Vega

Zoya changed the Magical formula with the Summer 2014 collection. These were jelly based and sheer, and so required an extra coat. They added more holo hex glitter and took away the silver microshimmer. I thought these were totally strange at first but they grew on me, a lot, especially Bar and Arlo. Great application; weartime is back up on these but they are officially a pain to remove.

Arlo

Zoya Arlo

Bar

Zoya Bar

Ginni

Zoya Ginni

This fall, Zoya introduced another iteration entirely of PixieDusts, this one called Ultra. These were jelly based and chunky like the Magicals, but with monochromatic glitter instead of holo and silver. They were supposed to be matte, but only one of the three dried that way, despite Zoya releasing a video instructing users how to properly apply these (which totally felt like grasping at straws to me). Zoya supposedly reformulated the two non matte shades-- my swatches are the first formulation, and it's a bummer because these colors held such promise.

Arianne

Zoya Arianne

Noir (I weep for what could have been)

Zoya Noir

Oswin (the lone matte of the bunch)

Zoya Oswin

And now we come to the death throes (though none of us knew it at the time). Wishes, winter 2014. Zoya is back at Magical Pixies again but they don't even pretend these are matte. The problem is, they're hardly even textured. They are basically chunky holo glitters thrown into a jelly base and called texture. The effect looks like something in desperate need of a topcoat. Did overall poor reception to these make the Zoya faeries decide to throw in the towel? Did the mattifying agent suddenly become scarce or overly expensive? Or is Zoya trying to nip this whole trend in the bud because they've got something else up their sleeves? Time will tell :)

Imogen

Zoya Imogen

Nori

Zoya Nori

Thea

Zoya Thea

So... are you shocked at the discontinuation? Why do you think they did it? Is the texture trend really coming to its end? Got a personal favorite PixieDust?

I like the original formula the best, though I don't actually own any. I know they were trying to be innovative, and maybe textured polish has hit a peak and is on the way out, but I'm not sure why they didn't stick with the original formula. Now.... Off to buy some pixie dusts (original version)!

Thank you for the post! I read the email on Friday and ordered enough to get free shipping. Once that order comes, I'll have just about all of them. I was so disappointed to see they are doing away with it entirely. I guess I didn't catch some of the issues people had with some of the finishes. And maybe as long as texture has hung on, the industry is moving on...but I will always love all my textured polishes! :)

The originals were my faves. I was thinking about getting some of the last batch of Pixies, but I don't know. I have so many Indie glitters, and they look just like some of them. I do still kinda want Thea...oh, the dilemma! lol

I am so bummed they are leaving... I really love the Original pixies. I have to head over and attempt to make an order. The discount said Continental US only... I'm hoping they will ship it... I still want to add Lux to my collection.

Absolutely heartbroken. :( Not sure what they were thinking making such a sudden decision like that. They should have kept the original pixies at least. I grabbed 5 more during the BOGO sale, but used my 50% off coupon from my mystery bag instead to get more off.

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